The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) is set to be hit with yet another strike by employees, but this time over its migration to a biometric system. The National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) announced on Monday that it would embark on a nationwide strike at the agency’s offices from Wednesday. This strike comes just a few months after members of the Public Servants Association at the agency downed tools after wage negotiations collapsed, with the matter eventually settled by the labour court. Nehawu general secretary Zola Saphetha said the strike follows failed negotiations with Sassa over issues workers encountered while using the system that has jeopardised the payment of grants to some of the 17-million beneficiaries in the country. The union is also contesting the unilateral implementation of the biometric system, saying new performance agreements for workers linked to new roles had not been determined. Sassa is mandated to provide comprehensiv...

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